This invention pertains to vertical blade saws and, in particular, to a vertical blade saw assembly for ceramic and masonry materials that will allow the user to make precision cuts of any shape and keep the vertical blade within a desired temperature range to increase the life of the blade in these operations.
The use of vertical saws is well known and the use of coolants to maintain the life of a saw blade is also known. What has not been shown is a vertical reciprocating saw blade apparatus that is designed to provide precision cuts of any shape to ceramic and masonry materials that also incorporates a coolant for the vertical blade. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,361 issued to Romuald Raczkowski on Feb. 28, 1989 for a xe2x80x9cCutting Blade Lubricationxe2x80x9d and the U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,946 issued to Richard D. Long et al on Oct. 3, 1989 for a xe2x80x9cFluid Cooled Apparatus for Cutting Concrete Material and the Likexe2x80x9d show devices that use blades for cutting and are cooled to maintain a desired temperature of the blade. What is needed is an assembly that will permit the cutting of precision cuts of any shape to ceramic and masonry and at the same time, allow the cutting blade to be cooled as the sawing process is underway. A diamond bladed wet band saw sold under the trade name Diamond Laser 5000 is available from Diamond Tech International. The drawback to this saw is that it has a continuous blade. This saw is incapable of doing inserts as will be explained below. The saw and the saw blade are also very expensive and replacing the blade is time consuming.
It is the object of this invention to teach a vertical blade saw assembly for ceramic and masonry materials which avoids the disadvantages and limitations, recited above in previous vertical blade assemblies. It is the object of this invention to provide an assembly that is inexpensive to manufacture, easy to use, and is extremely effective at making precision cuts of any shape.
Particularly, it is the object of this invention to teach a vertical blade saw assembly for ceramic and masonry materials, for use in providing precision cuts of any shape to tiles and the like, while keeping the blade making the cut within an ideal temperature range in order to prolong the life of the blade, comprising a housing for encompassing the entire assembly; said housing having a materials support platform for positioning the material to be cut; said housing having a plurality of blade attaching arms for holding a blade in the proper orientation; a vertical blade unit attached to said blade attaching arms for cutting the material; a coolant system for maintaining said blade at a desired temperature in order to prolong the operational life of said vertical blade unit; and a drive motor for operating said blade attaching arms and said vertical blade unit. Although the invention as described has application for cutting ceramic and masonry materials, the invention is also capable of cutting other similar materials such as glass, marble, and stone. Throughout this disclosure, it should be understood that any reference to tile, ceramic tile, or masonry means any material comprising but not limited to tile, ceramic tile, masonry, glass, brick, concrete, marble, and stone.
It is also the object of this invention to teach a vertical blade saw assembly for ceramic and masonry materials, for use in providing precision cuts of any shape to tiles and the like while keeping the blade making the cut within an ideal temperature range in order to prolong the life of the blade, comprising in combination a housing having a drive motor that powers a blade unit positioned between two parallel attachment arms having a pivot means in order to provide parallel, oscillating motion to the arms and the blade, said housing having a material support platform having an aperture therein for the passage of the blade and a coolant system for cooling the blade, said coolant system comprising a reservoir, tubing and a coolant pump, said reservoir being located below said material support platform.